Mr. Underrated: Greg McElroy

When you first see Greg McElroy, you think of Andy Taylor’s son Opie from the Andy Griffith show. Red hair, freckles and a cute smile; in other words, your typical boy next door, but Greg McElroy is not your typical boy next door.

In fact, he is not a boy at all; he is a man. A man that as a junior led his 2009 Alabama football team to its first national championship in nearly 20 years, yet he is hardly mention as one of the top quarterbacks in the country or even in his own conference.

You hear names like Ryan Mallett of Arkansas, John Brantly of Florida and even Cam Newton of Auburn (who has yet to start a game on the Division I level), but not McElroy. Yet, McElroy has not lost a game since the eighth grade; yes, THE EIGHTH GRADE.

A lot of people point at his performance in the BCS Championship game as a Jay Barker like because he didn’t throw for a bunch of yards or had a lot of completions, but it’s probably due to the fact that both Mark Ingram and Trent Richardson ran for over a 100 yards that night and Nick Saban went conservative in the second half, not to mention that McElroy admitted later he had two crack ribs.

But if you want to know how good Greg McElroy is, check out his stats from 2009: 2500 yards passing, 17 touchdowns and only four interceptions. Still not convinced? Check out his play in SEC Championship Game versus Florida last year. He threw for 239 yards, one touchdown and made the play of the night when he tight roped the sideline for a first down that produced another touchdown. He was named MVP.

In short folks, this kid, I’m sorry I mean MAN, is good. He won’t get the praise or the recognition he deserves because of the Alabama running game, but he should. He won’t get his name mention as the best quarterback in the SEC, but he should. He probably won’t even get a sniff at a Heisman vote this year, but he should.

Greg McElroy may not be your typical quarterback, but one thing he is; a winner and he SHOULD get more respect for being that.